Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: This package of remixes of tunes from Translations is a real gem for lovers of Future Sound of London. plenty of familiar samples and textures are worked into the five Yage remixes as are cosmic overtones, sitars, drones, backward guitars and more. 'The Big Blue' is a woozy intergalactic sound on slow-mo beats, 'Requiem' is a worldly dub, 'The Lovers' has psyched-out lead riffs that bring prog energy and 'The Great Marmalade Mama In The Sky' has drunken tabla drums and mesmeric strings for a perfect retro-future comedown. 'Wooden Ship' is a spine-tingling sound with choral vocals bringing the celestial charm.

Review: Yu Su's eclectic, organic sound is one that has been perfected over every consecutive release, and reaches its yetmost peak with 'I Want An Earth'. As if to make a defiant cry for a habitable planet, this one contains four tracks inspired by the artist's time spent in the deserts of Ojai, California, and the coastal areas of British Columbia, presenting a deeply pad-driven, warm and modular sound to match. A dazzling work of odd-timed cosmickery and varied sonics.

Review: Adalsteinn Gudmundsson aka Yagya has long been at the forefront of the dub world, He has a fantastically painterly style that fauna him sweeping long-tailed chords across wide-open vistas and laying down smooth basslines that lock you in. The changing seasons of his native Incline have often been his chief inspiration and that's the case again here on his most dreamy work to date. The record is divided into the distinct moods of Spring ('Vor') and Autumn ('Haust') and is brilliantly escapist and evocative.

Review: It's not hard to see just how ahead of their time Dumb Type were. And still are. Founded in Kyoto, Japan, in 1984, the artist collective looked to interpret and portray the changes they could see beginning to happen around them in society - specifically the start of the (information) technology age. Presenting work that took a dark and cynical view of the increasing importance and prevalence of equipment and digital in the every day, they do this though art exhibitions, performances and publications. Audiovisual installations have always been particularly prominent, and Every Dog Has His Day - one of two Dumb Theater albums previously only available on tape, now issued on vinyl for the first time - makes it clear music was never an afterthought. Credited to Toru Yamanaka, who wrote much of their heard work, and the late Teiji Furuhashi, who translated that onto stage, it's an avant garde essential.

Review: Dumb Type Theater have been at the forefront of Japan's performance art landscape since 1984, although the years between then and now have seen some significant changes - culturally and in terms of the group. The death of Teiji Furuhashi, one of the central members, is just one example. A pivotal player in performances, he was often tasked with translating the instrumentation and arrangements of musician Toru Yamanaka into on-stage directions. Removed from that context, Yamanaka and Furuhashi's sounds still work incredibly well. There are aspects of Plan For Sleep that evoke the US avant garde of the time, perhaps reiterating the fact that the late-20th Century saw a closing of distances and a shared vision of where the future was heading among broad communities. Sound art, in the most musical and listenable sense.

Review: Hailing from Singapore and with a vivid and curious artistic identity swirling around them, Nat Cmiel releases their latest album as yeule in a swirl of hypermodern synth pop. There's a dreamy, slightly sad quality to Cmiel's songs, but that only adds to their charm as those sweet melodic refrains get under your skin. This latest album on Bayonet is called Glitch Princess - a fitting title for an artist who seems so vitally defined by the internet age. When so many fear the future and our tense relationship with technology, yeule appears to be OK with the state of play, recognising the flaws but embracing the positives as we slip into a digital way of being.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


The tide of (hyper)pop has ebbed into increasingly emo and indie directions and the frothiest edge of this fluid movement is perhaps best represented by the latest album from Yeule (Nat Cmiel). Softscars follows up Yeule's 2022 album Glitch Princess and continues the trend of ultra-glossy, CD-reflective, knife-edge sounds packed into the blueprint of downtempo dream pop, in which said gloss reflects Cmiel's own personal experience of healing from trauma. The likes of 'ghost', 'dazies' and 'sulky baby' are giving glitchy alternate-reality Green Day in their Boulevard Of Broken Dreams era, with a dash of ejector-jewel-cased lyrics and a sprinkling of George Clinton-esque production flavour.

Review: The tide of (hyper)pop has ebbed into increasingly emo and indie directions and the frothiest edge of this fluid movement is perhaps best represented by the latest album from Yeule (Nat Cmiel). Softscars follows up Yeule's 2022 album Glitch Princess and continues the trend of ultra-glossy, CD-reflective, knife-edge sounds packed into the blueprint of downtempo dream pop, in which said gloss reflects Cmiel's own personal experience of healing from trauma. The likes of 'ghost', 'dazies' and 'sulky baby' are giving glitchy alternate-reality Green Day in their Boulevard Of Broken Dreams era, with a dash of ejector-jewel-cased lyrics and a sprinkling of George Clinton-esque production flavour.

Review: In Li Yield's Chinese homeland, the title of this album translates back to English as 'childhood' or 'dishevelled hair'. Both are fitting. The London-based multi-instrumentalist and composer follows on from 2021's spellbinding OF with a second full-length record, and this time looks to try and immortalise the experience of growing up young, seeing the world through wide open eyes and learning by engaging with it. The technical back story is impressive - Nonage is packed with outtakes of old Chinese TV shows, mechanical toys and instruments that were made by the artist for this project. Yilei's own childhood piano jams, and half-memories, are also interspersed. In the end, it's a beguiling listen, intriguing and curious, and consistently hazy, just like those recollections from when you were only just able to reach the counter top.

Review: Susumu Yokota's venerated 1994 classic Acid Mt. Fuji is reissued in expanded, deluxe fashion, as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the label that originally released it. Japan's Musicmine - specifically its electronic subsidiary Sublime - released the album on June 29, 1994, simultaneously with Ken Ishii's Reference To Difference, as their inaugural joint offering. Tantamount to a fusion of ambient acid/rave - then still nascent in Japan - with new age music, Susumo Yokota was likely the best man for the job at the time. With his first album, The Frankfurt-Tokyo Connection, he'd not yet established his electro-pastoralist style, yet it was Acid Mt. Fuji that divined the latter-day emotes of Sakura, a new age so adroitly fused with electronica yet emulable by few. Though the later years of Yokota's life have been couched in a good deal of privacy and mystery, Acid Mt. Fuji certainly betrays a fittingly shrewd and introspective character on the part of the artist, one that served him well. Its long, drawn-out nature soundscapes - tempered by the piquant sounds of modern synths like the TB-303, which animistically, pseudohallucinogenically blend with the animal sounds themselves - recall something like an alpine augur's waking dream.

Review: As Radiohead tour the world and then regroup to record their new album, Thom Yorke releases his own record, 'The Eraser' on XL Recordings. A collection of nine new songs, the record was written and played by Thom and was produced by Nigel Godrich. Variously hailed as "The Best Band In The World" (Q Magazine), "Rock's Best Live Band" (Rolling Stone) and the band were placed at number 1 of Spin Magazine's 40 most influential artists, Radiohead has arguably become the most acclaimed and adventurous force in modern music. Over six studio albums the group have proved that it is possible to make massive creative leaps whilst continuing to grow in worldwide stature. Their records set new benchmarks for others to aim towards, whilst their live shows reach levels of intensity and exploration that few can match.

Review: It's taken a while, but finally Thom Yorke's impressive third solo album, "ANIMA", is available on wax (and in a fetching shade of orange, too). A future classic that continues the legacy he started with XL Recordings back in 2006 (with his solo debut The Eraser), ANIMA is well worth picking up, as Yorke and co-producer Nigel Godrich offer up evocative, off-kilter songs built around the twin attractions of the Radiohead man's distinctive vocals and skewed backing tracks rich in layered electronic noise, body-bending sub-bass, discordant synthesizer parts and intriguingly jaunty drum loops. Highlights are plentiful throughout, from the creepy, lo-fi ambient swirl of "Last I Heard (...He Was Circling the Drain)" and "Dawn Chorus" (a blissfully dewy-eyed early morning soundscape), to the low-slung, post-trip-hop hum of "I Am A Very Rude Person" and the fizzing, jazz-fired thrust of "Impossible Knots". Melancholic, yes. Deep and self-effacing, of course. Nihilistic, not really. Percussive futurist sub-pop is back.

Review: Given his innate ability to craft intensely atmospheric and often fundamentally unsettling music, it seems apt that Thom Yorke has finally got around to producing a film soundtrack. It's fitting, too, that said soundtrack is for Luca Guadagnino's weirdo remake of 1977 Italian horror flick "Suspiria". Yorke nails the brief, delivering a string of chilling, otherworldly instrumentals that not only draw on his well-established love of dark ambient and gruesome electronica, but also foreboding neo-classical movements and sparse, wide-eyed arrangements. There are a smattering of superb vocal moments, too, with recent single "Suspirio" - described by one broadsheet reviewer as "the saddest waltz you'll ever here" - standing out.

Review: Given his innate ability to craft intensely atmospheric and often fundamentally unsettling music, it seems apt that Thom Yorke has finally got around to producing a film soundtrack. It's fitting, too, that said soundtrack is for Luca Guadagnino's weirdo remake of 1977 Italian horror flick "Suspiria". Yorke nails the brief, delivering a string of chilling, otherworldly instrumentals that not only draw on his well-established love of dark ambient and gruesome electronica, but also foreboding neo-classical movements and sparse, wide-eyed arrangements. There are a smattering of superb vocal moments, too, with recent single "Suspirio" - described by one broadsheet reviewer as "the saddest waltz you'll ever here" - standing out.

Review: When he originally released his second solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, in 2014, Thom Yorke only made it available as a download via BitTorrent. The paid-for package proved popular, with over a million listeners scrambling to download it in the first week of release. Here it finally gets a physical release (a limited Japanese pressing in 2015 not withstanding). The album is naturally typical of much of Yorke's solo work, blending his fragile and dinstinctive vocals with heart-aching piano motifs, crunchy electronics beats and all manner of weird and wonderful sonic textures. Early reviews stated that it was Yorke's most challenging work to date, but one that just gets better with every listen. That remains a perfect summary of an alluring and deliciously odd collection of tracks.

Review: American minimalism pioneers La Monte Young and Marian Zeeler released their second album in 1974, when they were already well-established in the US avant-garde. This serves as a document of their work and ideas at the time, with two very different sides on offer. The first side was recorded at a private concert, in which Young and Zeeler's voices interact with sustained drones and some occasional trumpet from Jon Hassell and trombone from Garrett List. The second side focuses on a bowed gong study, ruminating on the particulars of frequency and harmonics and their potential effects on the listener and the space in which they're heard.

Review: La Monte Young is one of the most important figures in the development of American minimal composition and performance, having explored the science of sound at an atomic level through his use of just intonation and rational number-based tuning systems. His wife Marian Zeeler was also one of his closest collaborators, and in 1974 they released their second album Dream House 78'17" as a demonstration of the ideas they had been proposing in their work. Side A was recorded at a private concert which also features Jon Hassell and Garrett List, while Side B is an extended tonal study via a bowed gong, which was monitored precisely through oscilloscopes for an exacting immersion in harmonic interplay and its physical and psychoacoustic properties.

Review: Club culture can be curiously misled at times. While the focus is so often on breakdowns, in reality it's the hypnosis of looped drums and hi hats that often captures our imagination. And while belters frequently steal the limelight, in doing so we're at risk of forgetting the unifying, open-armed foundations that are found in everything from techno to hardcore to jungle and beyond. Brutal Flowers certainly makes a strong case for rethinking priorities. "A no-airs and graces piece of cool future-proof ambience" the label puts it. We'd agree. YS's stunning record seems to speak to our inner dreams of what rave has been and could still be, it hits nail-on-head in turning the emotions of surreal walks home post-club with friends into beautiful, understated yet grand synth overtures. It never forgets that heads down and ethereality are not opposites, but instead two halves of the same passion, and thoughtfulness is really the only secret ingredient in the dance music spectrum.

Review: Miki Yui's As If is a captivating exploration of sound, blending organic elements with modular synthesis to create an immersive sonic landscape. Inspired by her 2018 experience in the Amazon rainforest, Yui found parallels between the natural sounds of the jungle and the modular electronics she had been exploring for decades. The result is a series of compositions that evolve and mutate slowly, much like nature itself, emphasising subtle shifts in texture and tone. Tracks like 'Generativ' are a lively, kinetic energy, with ticking and clacking electronics that seem to hover and rotate, revealing intricate patterns with each listen. In contrast, pieces such as 'Song 4' provide a more tranquil, reflective atmosphere, evoking a calm, late-night ambiance. 'Summernight' captures the humid essence of a tropical sunset, layering rich tones that feel both familiar and otherworldly. As If draws loose comparisons to the works of Laurie Spiegel and Eliane Radigue, but Yui's approach is uniquely her own. Her compositions feel almost tactile, with each sound carefully shaped to form a physical presence in the listener's environment. A poetic study of sound's capacity to evolve naturally, creating deeply sensory, listening experiences.

Review: Earlier in the year, Yves Tumor announced the release of this album by releasing 'Gospel For a New Country', a low-slung chunk of post-punk pop brilliance that mixed weighty grooves and emotive vocals with flash-fried guitar riffs amd sampled big band horns. Fittingly, it's this fine track that kicks off 'Heaven To A Tortured Mind', a notably fuzzy, live-sounding set that continues his evolution from quirky electronica maker to alt-rock artist. While there are some electronic sounds dotted across the set, for the most part it's funk-rock riffs, ESG style basslines, organic drums and his own heartfelt vocals that dominate. It could win him many new fans; certainly, it's a very good album.

Review: Art-rock auteur Yves Tumor occupies a headspace like no other, putting experimental noise, r&b and glam rock together in a bold, ever-escalating fusion, showing off a flair for simply making powerful Frankensteins out of their favourite styles. Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) adds yet once more this pot: it's a glistening, richly detailed, arguably ultimate expression of their vision, mixing such far-flung influences as My Bloody Valentine, Prince and The Smashing Pumpkins into a deep affector for the Gen Z-eitgeist.

Review: Earlier in the year, Yves Tumor announced the release of this album by releasing 'Gospel For a New Country', a low-slung chunk of post-punk pop brilliance that mixed weighty grooves and emotive vocals with flash-fried guitar riffs amd sampled big band horns. Fittingly, it's this fine track that kicks off 'Heaven To A Tortured Mind', a notably fuzzy, live-sounding set that continues his evolution from quirky electronica maker to alt-rock artist. While there are some electronic sounds dotted across the set, for the most part it's funk-rock riffs, ESG style basslines, organic drums and his own heartfelt vocals that dominate. It could win him many new fans; certainly, it's a very good album.